Deep Freeze
by The Rushing Wind
Summary: AU. The Hammer never found the Logos, thus Neo never made it to 01. Niobe fails to make it to the Oracle, and now the crew of the Logos is trapped in the Tunnels of the Real. What can the three last survivors of Zion even hope to accomplish?
1. Lost in the Tunnels of the Real

Deep Freeze

Plot Summary: The Hammer never found the Logos, and thus Neo never made it to 01. Zion has fallen. And after a failed attempt to see the Oracle, Niobe, Ghost, and Sparks are all alone with no power in the tunnels of the real. What can the three soul survivors of free humanity possibly hope to accomplish all alone?

Spoilers: Post-Enter the Matrix, spoils about half the plot of Revolutions.

Category: Alternate Universe, Drama

Legal Stuff: I don't own these wonderful characters, but who can resist borrowing for a while?

* * *

Deep Freeze  
Chapter 1 

Niobe's eyes fluttered open slowly, pulling her blanket around her shoulders. It was cold, damn cold...

Ghost sat just behind her, fast asleep, while Sparks had taken up on the floor. They'd discharged an EMP to stop those sentinels, but no one had come to find him. Or rather, there was probably no one left to find them. They'd had no word for weeks from any ship, and their supplies were almost gone. Barely two day's worth of food and water left, and every day it got colder.

She stared at the ice that had solidified over the control panels, and smiled bitterly. Take the red pill, escape to reality...die anyway.

"Sparks?" she breathed softly, as not to wake up Ghost. She could see her breath freeze into tiny particles in front of her. How cold did that mean it was? Somewhere near zero maybe?

"Yeah?" came a tired grunt below her.

"How much water?"

"Just enough for today and tomorrow. Then we'll have to start peeling ice off the bulkheads..." He rolled over slowly and sat up, looking at Niobe with a broken spirit.

She just stared at him a moment--ice crystals frozen in his hair, his skin turning a darker blue each day. Though Sparks tried to hide it, he was very sick. He wasn't his usual witty, loudmouthed self, and though Niobe used to wish for nothing more than for Sparks to shut up, now she wished that he would just talk more, crack a joke, _anything_.

"Is there anything we can do to get a message out?"

"Not a damn thing." How odd...his breath seemed to be even colder than hers…

"I wonder...what happened to Neo and the others?"

She'd had a lot of time to think about things while they'd been stranded. A lot of things... The fact that she'd never made it past Seraph to see the Oracle, and probably had missed something important. No, she _knew_ she'd missed something important.

"You know, I screwed up, Sparks," Niobe muttered, still watching her breath crystallize and slowly filter down to the floor.

"What do you mean, Captain?" His rasping could be heard clearly in his voice.

She sighed. "When I went to see the Oracle, I was supposed to prove myself to her guardian. I...failed. He told me that the Oracle was mistaken, and I couldn't be of any help..."

"But you were sick, Niobe. It wasn't your fault."

She closed her eyes. "Doesn't matter," she told him. "All that matters is I failed... I couldn't even get us away from the sentinels, and I doomed us to die slowly."

"That's not true. It was either this, or the machines would have killed us." Sparks broke out into a fit of coughing, turning away from Niobe completely.

She grimaced as she stared at him, trying not to let her concern show too much. "Maybe..."

Niobe felt like a failure. A huge, monumental failure. She didn't save Zion, she didn't make it to the Oracle, and hell, her crew was dying all around her.

But the Oracle wasn't the only thing she thought about. She thought a lot about Persephone... And realized that she had been right. She didn't love Lock, not a damn bit. She loved Morpheus, but her pride had kept her from admitting this little fact the last time she'd seen him. And now it was too damn late…

"Maybe we should start another fire?" broke a new voice through the air.

Niobe turned her head slightly to the side, a frown on her face. "Sorry Ghost, we didn't mean to wake you."

"I was already awake."

Sparks coughed again, his thin, pale form shuttering. "Do we have anything left to burn?"

"Maybe there would be something outside we could use?"

Niobe groaned slightly. "There's only metal out there. And if we open those doors, it'll get even colder."

"We're going to die anyway." Ghost sounded completely at peace with this, his composure surprising even Niobe. "At least we could die a bit warmer."

Niobe's head drooped. "Both of you...I'm sorry about all of this. I'm sorry we don't know what the hell happened to Zion, I'm sorry that we're trapped here. Whether Zion fell, or whether it didn't, we tried…"

Though she couldn't see his face, she was sure that Ghost was smiling. "Like Augustine, we were devoted to a cause higher than that of our own lives."

"Geez, speak for yourselves..." came the grunt from Sparks, causing them all to chuckle. "I still value my own damn life a lot…" He rolled over slowly, his knees popping as he stood to his feet, clutching the blanket around him. "I'm going to go get some water…"

Niobe listened to Sparks' footsteps as he walked out of the main deck, silence once again falling upon them.

"I asked you before, 'what if they don't find us,'" Ghost sputtered, shivering against the extreme cold. "And you said you knew they would."

Niobe closed her eyes. "I was wrong. I'm sorry, Ghost."

He was silent for a moment, but Niobe was sure that he was nodding his calm, peaceful nod on the other side of the seat.

"They haven't found us, so what are we going to do?"

She sighed. "We can go out into the sewers and see if there is any fuel, or any damn thing we can use out there. I know its way below zero, but we don't have any other choice." Another moment of silence passed before Niobe added another comment. "And I think Sparks should stay behind."

"Agreed." Ghost was quick to answer her, just as concerned as Niobe about Sparks' illness. "When do we go?"

"After we eat…" She slumped down in the seat, pulling the blanket up to her chin.

"Ghost…I'm sorry that I've doomed you to die of something, and not for something."

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Hmmm…what do you think? Please R&R! 


	2. Searching for Hope

Legal Stuff:  I don't own Enter the Matrix, the Matrix Trilogy, or any of its characters.

This is a short little chapter, but a longer one is on the way.  Please R&R!

===

Deep Freeze 

Chapter 2

Niobe poured the last of the goop in her bowl, her eyes darting quickly between Sparks' hunched form on the table and the goop.  She sighed sadly in resignation, and slid the bowl in front of him.   "Eat up, Sparks," she said, patting him on the back as she walked by.

His eyes opened a bit, having fallen asleep at the table.  "Ahh...what?"  He rubbed his eyes for a moment and sat up, looking up at Niobe.  "But...that's the last--."

"Shut up and eat it," Niobe cut him off quickly.  "And take the extra blankets back to your cot and get some rest."

Sparks looked confused for a moment.  "But you and Ghost won't have a blanket."

"We're going out in the sewers to look for anything that could be of use."  Niobe poured a small glass of water and sipped on it slowly.  "Its our only hope...surely there's something in that trash out there."

Sparks' hand shook slightly as he took a bite of the goop.  "It's below zero out there, Captain.  You'll freeze."

Niobe stared at her glass for a few moments before answering him.  "We'll freeze in here.  What's the difference?"

He didn't answer, his eyes downcast at the table.  "So, when are we going?"

"Ghost and I are leaving in a few minutes.  You're staying here."  

He looked over at her suddenly.  "What?  No!  I can't--," he started, but suddenly broke out into a fit of coughing.  Once he regained his breath, he tried to finish, his voice sounded a bit strained.  "I can't just stay here while you guys are gone."

Niobe half-smiled at him.  "You're sick, Sparks.  You need to stay here and rest."  Her smile faded a bit as his he turned away from her.  She closed her eyes, thoughts of failure dancing in her head.  Their lives were her responsibility, and here she was, accepting that death was imminent for all of them.

Sparks was silent, his face eventually conveying acceptance after a few moments.  "What...if you don't come back?"

Niobe frowned.  "Then...do what you will.  There's three doses of morphine left in the med bay..."  She let her voice trail off, her conscience screaming at her.

He finally turned back to her, his eyes defeated.  "Is that an order, Niobe?"

Niobe snickered bitterly.  "No.  It's...permission."  She gulped down the last of her water.  "Ghost and I should be back within three days.  I just know--oh, dammit it all to hell..."  She groaned, raising a hand to her head, fighting back a wave of emotion.  This just wasn't Niobe--this wasn't the kickass Matrix warrior everyone had come to know and fear by name back in Zion.  She was never overcome by emotion.  Never.  But then again, these were not normal circumstances.  She took a deep breath and continued. 

"Fuck..." she muttered again.  "I just know...I wouldn't want to wait around to die all alone...  And you've said as much to me before."  

Sparks took another bite of the goop silently.  "You're not coming back."  It was more of a statement than a question.

She shook her head.  "Probably not.  But there's always hope, right?"  She looked back over her shoulder at him.  "We might find something out there we can use."

Sparks half smiled.  "Yeah.  See you...later, then."

Niobe smiled sadly at his words.  They felt strangely...appropriate.  "Yeah, later then."  She shut the door behind her, grabbing the nearby coat as she walked to the hatch, where she knew Ghost was already waiting.  

Ghost stood silently, his eyes far away as she approached.  "Are you ready?" he asked.  It never ceased to amaze Niobe how acute his senses were.

"Yeah.  Let's go."  

They manually pushed the hatch open and shut it behind them, fighting the shock of the much-colder air.  They silently looked around for a few moments before Niobe took off in one direction, Ghost wordlessly following her.  Twisted, broken metal could be seen in every direction, most of it trash from the old cities that used to reign the skies above long before the war even started.  

They walked for hours through the monotonous metal graveyard, their hopes slowly dying as they saw that there really was nothing out there.  They climbed what seemed like an endless incline, the strength of both slowly giving out, when Niobe suddenly stopped at the top.

"What the hell...?"

Ghost pulled himself the rest of the way up and looked down, his face squinting.  He turned to Niobe, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.  "A ship."

She looked back.  "It's got to be.  Come on, lets go have a look."  

The ship had been there for a while, Niobe judged, looking at the cobwebs and it's general state of decay.  It was probably an old hovercraft that crashed years ago.  It was huge, about the size of the Nebuchadnezzar or the Hammer, she noted as they stepped through the narrow opening where the hatch once stood.  It had a musty smell inside--a smell of death and decay.  Spider webs were everywhere--over every door, in every corner.

"Lets check the cockpit," Niobe muttered, shivering against the cold.  The layout of the ship seemed unusual to Niobe, but then again, she was used to the Logos, which was a very small ship indeed.  Eventually, they found their way through the maze of hallways to the cockpit.

Inside, laid in strangely odd patterns across the floor, were three very old skeletons.  Not a trace of clothing or flesh remained--only bone and cobweb.  

Niobe frowned intently.  "They've been dead for a while."

Ghost knelt down to examine a patch of dust on the floor beside one of the skeletons.  Rubbing at it gently, he looked back up at Niobe, a bit of confusion in his eyes.  "Niobe, these people have been here at least a hundred years..."  He pinched a bit of the dust between his fingers and held it up.  "It coarse, meaning it was clothing at one point in time.  The synthetic cloth we use is supposed to last for an entire lifetime."

Niobe's eyes closed for a brief moment, a frown forming on her face.  "That can't be right.  Humans have only been outside of the Matrix for a hundred years, and there were no ships until about fifty years ago..."  She looked around at the panels--definitely foreign, a pattern to them that she did not understand.  "Look at this, Ghost..."  

He stood and examined the panels with her, his eyes full of questions.  "Perhaps we should check the Core?"

Niobe nodded. "Yeah."

The Core was not as difficult to find as the cockpit, as it was just a few hallways away.  It looked just like any other ship's core.  An operator's station, four chairs for jacking in, and a shelf full of basic programming.  Ghost blew some of the dust off, and reached for one of the disks.  

"Matrix Feed Program," he read softly.

Niobe walked over and looked at the disk.  "That can't be right.  The ships never carry these basic programs on disks.  They download them from other ships after they blow the E.M.P.'s."

Ghost nodded.  "Yes.  If the machines were to get access to our mainframe communications programming..."  He trailed off, setting the disk back on the shelf.

Niobe was searching around for the ship's plaque, which always had the hovercraft's name and signature on it.  Eventually she found it, drilled into a pillar near the opposite end of the room.

"The Saturn, Mark IX, Made in the USA in the year..." she stopped short.  "2146?"

Ghost frowned as he looked it over.  "2146...how is that possible?  Humans weren't even out of the Matrix at that time."

Niobe shook her head.  "I don't know...  But I do know one thing.  Only about twenty ships were ever made in Zion," she said, frowning, "and I know there wasn't a 'Saturn'."

Ghost didn't respond to her statement.  "We should look and see if the power core is still viable."

They descended down the nearby ladder to the core's room, looking around carefully.  It looked just like any other core they'd ever seen before.  But they knew something wasn't right about this ship...

Niobe investigated the core carefully.  It seemed to be undamaged, if a little dusty.  "The power connectors look like they were destroyed in the crash," she muttered, ducking under a fallen metal bar.  "If that's the case, there may still be some power left in it."  She stood, looking over at Ghost.  "But this is a damn small power core...  If it's as old as those people, any power left may have seeped out over time."

Ghost studied it from the other side.  "Our cores are designed to hold their electric charges for three hundred years.  But this doesn't quite look like one of our cores."  He walked around the structure to stand beside Niobe.  "Its smaller than it should be for a ship this size."

She frowned.  "I noticed that."  She crossed her arms.  "We could drag it back to the Logos and see if it'll work."  

Ghost frowned.  "Its too heavy.  We're a solid day's walk from the Logos."

"We don't have any other options.  Here, let's see if we can pull it out."  

She started to unwind cords and such from the tangled mess, and he did the same, until finally they were able to pull it out of its place.  Both grunted with the effort--it was indeed heavy.

"It'll take days to get this back."  Niobe groaned.  "But we've got to try."

Ghost grabbed the opposite end of the core.  "Sparks may not last that long..."

"...Then we'll get this thing out of here now.  We should make it back in a day and a half."  Niobe's conviction had returned just a bit--she had to look out for her crew, after all.  

"We should get those disks.  We will need those programs."  Ghost grunted with the effort of pulling the delicate core up the ladder, Niobe pushing it from below.  Finally, they succeeded in heaving the large object above the lower deck, both panting with effort.  "This won't be easy," he muttered.

She nodded.  "I know.  Come on, lets get out of here."  She looked around slowly, taking in the familiar sights.  "Something is definitely wrong here..." she muttered.  "There have to be answers here, somewhere.  Maybe in the Captain's log."  Niobe rolled to her feet, helping Ghost up afterwards.  "If we can get the Logos started again, we need to come back."

After a bit of struggling through tight hallways and a few ladders, they finally emerged from the wrecked hovercraft, both carrying the heavy energy core with strain.  They set it down momentarily to take a break.  No, this would definitely not be easy...

"It's not likely to have any power left."

Niobe fought a frown.  "How can you be so calm?  We're going to die, don't you know that?"

Ghost's back was towards her as they sat on a long, metal bar of some sort.  "Death is inevitable.  Everything that is born must one day die."  He frowned, unseen by Niobe.  "But death is not the end...  Hume teaches us that we are all reborn, along with those we loved and cared for in this life."

Niobe shook her head.  "I wish I could believe that..."  She stared off in the distance.

Ghost smiled.  "Aren't you going to be surprised once we're on the other side..."

Niobe laughed--a good, full laugh, something she hadn't done in weeks.  "I'd be surprised as hell."  She pulled herself to her feet, grabbing one end of the energy core.  "Come on, let's hurry."

Ghost nodded and knelt down to pick up the opposite end, but not before glancing back at the broken hovercraft behind them.

"Rest in peace, Saturn," he muttered under his breath.

===

  
If you haven't already figured out, the Saturn is a ship from one of the previous Zions (according to the Architect's little speech...).  Just thought I'd clarify that...

And another thing that might have confused you:  There is a difference between the Core and the energy core.  The former being the area of the ship in which they monitor the Matrix and jack in, the latter being the actual source of the ship's energy (a brief shot of the Neb's core is shown powering down during the first squiddie encounter in M1).

So, is the energy core any good?  Are they all going to die?  Anything's fair game here...  R&R and tell me what you think!  ^_^


	3. Dying to Live

Legal Stuff: I don't own Enter the Matrix, the Matrix Trilogy, or any of its characters.

===

Deep Freeze

Chapter 3

It hadn't taken them a day and a half.  It hadn't taken them two days.

It had taken them three.

The small, yet heavy energy core bore several dents from its long journey across the tunnels of the real.  It was lucky to have survived the trip at all—Niobe and Ghost were on the verge of killing themselves to get it back.

It had been four days without food, and they'd only had ice to chew on for a water source.  All the signs of dehydration were beginning to show—dry mouth, sunken eyes.  They wouldn't last long at that rate.

Both were exhausted, but they pushed on, resting only occasionally.  There was no time.  If they didn't get back, they would die out there.  In all honesty, they left the Logos without expecting to come back.  They never expected to find anything.  But now they had.

Maybe it was false hope.  But maybe, just maybe, it wasn't.

Maybe Zion had held off the machines, and if they could just reach it's docks…

Finally reaching the Logos was a cause for celebration in itself.  Niobe and Ghost all but left the core behind, collapsing on the floor of their home.

Sprawling, Niobe bitterly laughed.  "We've drug ourselves all this way, and I don't think I can move another inch."

"We must."

"What if we can't?"

Ghost slowly turned himself over and stood up.  "We will."  He extended a hand out to Niobe, which she took and pulled herself up.

"I'll go check on Sparks," she finally sputtered.  "You see if you can move this thing in."

She leaned against the wall for support as she put one foot in front of the other, heading in the direction of Sparks' room.  When she arrived, she pushed the door open, not even bothering to knock. 

The room wasn't quite as cold as the outside, but only because it had apparently been shut up for a while.  Niobe's eyes trailed slowly over to the bed, almost dreading to look.  Sure enough, Sparks was curled up under several blankets, one of his arms slumped over the side of the bed.

He wasn't moving.

She shivered before slowly making her way over to his bedside.  "Sparks?" she said as loud as her voice would allow. 

No response.

She dropped to her knees and grasped his limp hand in hers.  It was icy to the touch, and her hands were too numb themselves to try to feel for a pulse.

"Sparks, please," she whispered.  Her eyes began to cloud with tears as her gaze fell to the floor.  "Too damn late," she muttered.

It was then she heard a raspy breath.  "Cap…tain?"

Niobe's gaze immediately darted back to Sparks.  He was turning over to face her.  "Sparks, we came back."

"Yeah," came his small, quiet reply.  "Find…anything?"  He finally opened his eyes to look at her.  His eyes had a 'barely there' look about them.

"We did.  Can you get up and help us?"

"No."

Niobe nodded slowly at him.  "All right.  You just stay here and rest.  We'll have this ship up and running in no time."

He didn't respond.  His eyes seemed to drift further away as she stared at him. 

Frowning, she continued to talk.  "We found another ship's power core.  It seems to have power left."

He still didn't respond.  He seemed…had he stopped breathing?

"Sparks?  Sparks!"  She stood up quickly and leaned over the bed, grabbing either side of his face.  "Sparks, answer me!"

A bit of a groan escaped his lips.  "It…was…fun."

"What?"

"I always…complained.  But it was…fun."

"Shut up!  You're not leaving now, Sparks!"  Niobe was gripping his face tighter and tighter.  "Dammit, that's an order!"

His only response was a raspy breath.

"We need you.  We need our operator!"  She was to the point of shouting, but she wasn't about to let him die after everything that had happened.  "We have to hold on for each other until we get back to Zion."

"There is…no…Zion."

Niobe grimaced for a split second.  "We need you, Sparks!  Ghost and I can't do this alone!  We need our friend with us."  She looped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him up a bit, his head lulling back.  He groaned in protest.

"Please…Niobe…I can't.  Let me die…" His whole body was limp in her arms.

She frowned for a moment.  Didn't everyone have the right to die in peace?  Was he begging her to let him go?

But she couldn't.  "No.  You're coming with me." 

She barely had the energy to stand, let alone carry him.  But somewhere, she found the strength to pull him up, sling his arm over her shoulder, and drag him with her across the ship.  His eyes were closed, and he grunted every other breath.  But she didn't care.  She was the captain.  She had to keep her crew alive.  She finally pulled him down to the Core, and set him down in one of the chairs they used for jacking in. 

"Stay here, and don't die on me."

He muttered something in response, but she couldn't hear him at first.  Leaning closer, he repeated what he said.

"Your wish…captain …is my…command."

She smiled ever so slightly.  "Now, that's more like it.  Ghost and I'll be back here soon."

She didn't make it five steps outside of the room before she nearly collapsed into the wall again.  As she leaned against the cold bulkhead, she thought she wasn't going to be able to keep going, until the sound of metal against metal screeched from down the hall.

Ghost.

She pushed herself away and kept going.  'Just a little further,' she kept telling herself.  Finally she reached Ghost and the energy core, their last hope.

"Let's get this thing hooked up," she grunted as she picked up the other end.  Every muscle in her body protested, every bone creaked, and she honestly did not know where her strength was coming from.  But one foot in front of the other, she kept telling herself.  Just a little further.

"Sparks?" Ghost asked calmly.

"He's alive."  'Barely,' she added silently.

Together they tugged the heavy object to the Logos' Core.  Sparks was limp in the chair as he watched them.  There was a long pause in the room as everyone rested a moment.  But Ghost was not one to be still very long in a situation such as this.  He slowly walked over to Sparks and knelt beside him. 

"I need to ask you something very important, Sparks."

"What?"

Ghost took a deep breath.  "You're doing very bad, you know.  If you don't make it…can I have your boots?"

A raspy chuckle could be heard as Sparks turned his head to look at Ghost.  "Touch those boots, and…I'll come back…to haunt you."

"Then you'd better not die."

Sparks made a sound not unlike a snort.  "Fine.  Hook the damn core up."

About twenty minutes later, the switch was complete, and the old core was discarded to the side.  Niobe forced herself up the ladder and into the cockpit.  "Moment of truth, boys," she said in passing.  She was beyond exhaustion, but she kept telling herself, 'just a little further.'  Pulling herself up into the cockpit was pure torture.  Finally, she collapsed into the chair and reached up to pump the igniter several times.  After she was sure her effort had been sufficient, she stared up at the button several seconds, and finally punched it.  And shut her eyes tightly.

The Logos roared to life around her.

Niobe's eyes snapped open, a smile on her face.  "Finally," she whispered.  Almost immediately, her mind flipped into survival mode.  She routed power through to the heating systems first, before turning on the water recycling system.  Next she set the proximity alarms. 

When she was done, she leaned back in her chair, content to go to sleep right then and there.

But still, her duty as Captain was not yet done.  Sure, her and Ghost probably would make it just fine by resting first, but Sparks? 

Her body once more protesting, she forced herself down to the mess hall.  Finding that everything was sufficiently defrosted, she turned the processor on to start making food once again.  Once the short process was done, she poured two bowls of the goop, filled a bottle of water, and made her way back to the Core.

Ghost was lying on the floor when she came in.  She gently kicked him in the side, and handed him the food.

Sparks was mostly unresponsive, however.  Niobe frowned.  He _had_ to eat, or he was done for.  She sat down beside him and pulled him up, leaning his weight against her. 

"What…?" he muttered, but she silenced him.

"Eat."

She had to feed him.  He had no strength to feed himself.  She slowly spooned food into his mouth, hoping not to make him sick.  He complied, swallowing most of what she fed him, until finally he told her he wanted no more.  Then she forced him to drink a good portion of the bottle of water she carried with her.

He groaned sickly when she was finished, and turned over on his side just a bit.  Niobe sighed as she watched him.  "Don't die."

"Mmm."

She had just turned to go get herself some water when her mysterious source of strength gave out on her.  She went tumbling to the floor, painfully hitting her head on part of the metal walkway.

"Oww," was all she could manage to groan, but she didn't care.  'I'll just stay here and rest a while,' she thought as her sight began to get fuzzy.  Apparently, she noted, she'd managed to give herself a concussion on top of everything else. 

Just before she blacked out, she faintly registered the sound of the proximity alarms going off.

===

Oooh, don't you just hate cliffhangers?  I've got my motivation back for this fic, so expect frequent updates!  Please R&R!!


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